Rivals Daily Dozen: Thursday's best from UA All-America practice
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Preparation for the Under Armour All-America Game continued on Thursday as both teams went through an intense practice. Below is a look at the 12 best performers from the day's action.
One of the major storylines heading into the week was if Wade would hold onto the top spot in the cornerback position ranking. He made his case on Thursday with a dominant performance during the one-on-one and team sessions. Wade knocked down multiple passes thrown in front of him and against deep routes. Penn State is getting a fantastic prospect that could be used in a variety of ways.
Beal is primarily an edge rusher but he showed his range on Thursday. He won a number of reps taking inside routes to the quarterback. Beal had a good series of plays against Trey Smith where he showcased a variety of moves to get passed him. Beal is a bit streaky but Georgia has experience developing players like him with Lorenzo Carter.
Wilson is making a habit of physically and technically dominating the Team Armour interior offensive linemen. He’s been overpowering opposing players at times and then coming back and just beating them with speed and hand techniques. The comparisons to Ed Oliver’s Under Armour All-America Game performance last year continue to look correct.
Quarterbacks had a really hard time passing in Jones’ direction. The long linebacker had a few pass breakups and a really nice pick-six on Thursday. Florida and Florida State seem like the two teams in the best shape but Texas A&M and USC are very much in the mix.
One of the big tests for Leatherwood this week was all the edge rushers he was going to face. So far the Alabama commit has easily handled them and shown the discipline and patience to keep the defenders from countering back to the inside. Nick Saban and his staff will be able to play Leatherwood on the left or right side of the offensive line.
Thorpe continues to be one of most surprising players this week. The Penn State commit has been Team Armour’s toughest interior offensive lineman. Thorpe is aggressive and is that guy that plays to the echo of the whistle. James Franklin’s and Joe Moorhead’s offense needs more quality interior offensive linemen and Thorpe fits that mold.
Jeudy let it be known that he was the nation’s top-ranked receiver. Defensive backs were falling over themselves trying to stay with the Alabama commit on Thursday. A lot of people have compared Jeudy to Alabama star Calvin Ridley because of their route running prowess and suddenness.
Offensive linemen had a hard time containing Ray because of his strength and balance. He would shoot the inside gap and muscle the lineman out of the way before getting to the quarterback. Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are still Ray’s top five schools but the Crimson Tide seems to have an edge.
Fighting of a minor injury from Wednesday, Ausbon showed a lot of toughness on Thursday. He looked faster and did a good job of getting open downfield. At one point he made a big catch over Lamont Wade. Look for Ausbon to do a lot of that at Texas A&M.
Lots of eyes were fixed on Moses all day to see how he plays at linebacker and he didn’t disappoint on Thursday. The Alabama commit was physical inside against the run and showed progress in coverage. Moses capped his day with a nice interception that he returned for a touchdown.
Oklahoma State has an impressive stable of wide receivers and it’s about to get better when Wallace gets to Stillwater. He is extremely fast and sudden in his route running. Wallace made a lot of good plays but there was one where he made a tough downfield catch leaping and reaching over Stanford Samuels.
Yesterday Kaindoh relied heavily on the outside rush to beat offensive linemen. Today he really worked his inside moves and it really kept offensive linemen off balance. The Florida State commit might be the Under Armour All-American with the highest ceiling.
